AFC TOTTON are unable to call on defender Stuart Mott to help lift them out of their early-season doldrums.

The popular former Alresford and Sholing centre-back is off to join The Army.

Mott missed the start of the Southern One South & West campaign on holiday, but he was there to support the Stags on Monday as they stumbled 3-1 at Winchester City – their fifth defeat out of six league games.

Totton boss Steve Hollick explained: “Stu’s off to Sandhurst to train as an officer next week.

“He did a bit of travelling with his girlfriend in the summer and was available to play a couple of games for us before he joins The Army, but we couldn’t just use him for two games.

“He came to Winchester on Monday to cheer us on and just having his presence there made a difference. He’s a funny lad and he makes us all chuckle.

“He’ll be back at Christmas when he gets some leave and he may do a bit of training with us. We’ll see.”

Totton’s poor start has left them a lowly 21st in the table on one point, with only Steve Riley’s Bashley below them.

Mid-table Yate Town are the visitors to the Testwood Stadium on Saturday and will still be smarting from last weekend's trip to nearby Brockenhurst which saw them turfed out of the FA Cup 2-1 by the New Forest side.

“I’ve had some good scouting reports on Yate from (Brockenhurst boss) Pat McManus,” said Hollick, who urgently needs to cure Totton’s costly habit of conceding early goals.

Attacking trio Mike Gosney (back), Nick Watts (knee) and Craig Feeney (ankle) all missed the Winchester game and Hollick confessed: “Injuries aren’t helping us, we’re constantly having to make changes.

"I think Saturday's a week too soon for Wattsy and Feeney, but Gos is pretty close and he'll have a fitness test. It will be a big boost for us if he's back because it's a massive game for us.

“The lads who came in on Monday did really well but, once again, it took us a while to settle and it was another game where we conceded really early."

“But we’ve got to keep believing in what we are trying to do and we need the fans on side."